TWiP 434 – Photography, Evolved.

TWiP 434 – Photography Evolved

Last week was chock full of interesting camera announcements. Previously we continually saw incremental, albeit much needed, advancements to our favorite camera systems. Now we’re seeing completely different form factors and implementations. Companies are beginning to reimagine what a camera can do, and as such changing what kinds of photos, we as image makers, can create.

DJI surprised everyone last week with their gimbal ­stabilized, handheld, 4K, 12­megapixel “Osmo”. And an entirely new company called “Light” has been generating huge buzz with a camera that sports “sixteen lenses” that all shoot the same image simultaneously, then using onboard computational wizardry, create a what looks to be a stunning 50+ megapixel image.

Just when you thought things were stabilizing in the mirrorless and DSLR spaces… things get shaken up, again!

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2 Comments

The computational imaging possibilities of the Light L16 are many. Multiple modules working in tandem allow for the high megapixels Light promises, but much more than that. The technology allows for significant improvements in lens sharpness. Modules set to different exposures create an in-camera HDR. Modules of different focal lengths allow a virtual zoom that can replicate any focal length in the range. Certain applications of the technology (not utilized in the L16, I believe) should be able to achieve significant perspective controls.

But to the specific point raised by Sara and Syl, multiple perspectives allows for a Lytro-esque ability to alter depth of field in post production. Light has stated that the L16 can simulate the depth of field of apertures as low as f/1.2 and allows the user to set focus wherever they like.

All of these advantages of computational photography are real, and have been demonstrated in labs and tests. Whether Light, or the L16, has succeeded is another question. How the camera performs ergonomically and in actual operation is an even bigger question. But speaking theoretically, the technology allows the depth of field to be very shallow indeed, in addition to many other very interesting things. It will be very interesting to see the execution of these possibilities, but the possibilities are most certainly there.

Once again it seemed that you guys talked about something with out doing any real research on it. The Light camera. Syl – you would have known the dof answer had you spent 10 minutes watching their videos. Frederick – t doesn’t use all the lenses simultaneously. I think it said up to 10. It is becoming more and more futile listening to this podcast since so often you guys aren’t doing any real research before talking about subjects.